Siege of the Spider Eaters

General Summary

Hiring out a skiff and her crew, Myradin would begin his search by gathering local knowledge and immersing himself in local lore, hoping to get the better of his rivals also searching for the legendary Haven-Fara on behalf of Carcino and various guilds and private investors.
Arriving at one of the last known inhabited islands, the crew of the Wind disembarked. Here on this island they would purchase various food goods and rum from the general merchant and island barkeep, as well as visiting the island smith and getting various minor repairs to fittings.
Here the crew would encounter a Halfling entertainer by the name of Zenyra Smooth-Hands and a local Aarakocra privateer named Kick. Hiring the locals, the crew of the Wind returned to their ship, and the next morning set sail for the rumored island and pirate stronghold of Haven-Fara.

The Storm

Weeks later during a treacherous storm the Wind and her crew would find themselves crashed and thrown against a great barrier reef during the night. This would result in the destruction of the Wind as well as the spoilage of much of the food and goods procured during her travels.
Waking up on a beach of an unkown island, the survivors of First Mate Nole Oatshield, Myradin, Kick, and Zenyra began scavenging anything they could to use to survive. During this Kick and Myradin noticed a dock as the beach bended about three miles down. Deciding to investigate, the two found barrels of food and rope, as well as tracks leading into the jungle that covered the island. With the tracks the two found the hat of Captain Rigatoni of the skiff the Wind. Returning to camp and giving the hat to Nole, the five decided to follow the tracks, and ventured into the jungle and the island.

Pirates!

After following the tracks for roughly ten minutes, the five survivors found a group of humanoids. Myradin, believing them to be natives, made himself known. This would lead to the deaths of four men, as they attacked the survivors. It was at this point that Nole realized they were pirates and they had one of the men! Attempting to save the sailor, the pirates were slain, but in the process the sailor was killed by a brimstone explosion...

The Legendary Stronghold of Haven-Fara

Following the trail past the pirates, deeper into the jungle, the five survivors would encounter a local islander, returning from a successful hunting trip. This man, Jess, would reveal that the native islanders and those who crashed here were forced into slavery at the hands of the local pirates who had dishonored their code.
Being lead by Jess, the five survivors would come to the center of the island, where in a clearing sat a town whose center was a large, beached pirate ship with three masts that stood 100-160 feet high. But, the beached vessel was not the only strange thing about the town, as the entirety of it, including the boat, was covered in thick spider webs! The group could see many giant spiders crawling around the town. Freaking out for the safety of his family, Jess went to find a way through the webbings with Kick and Zenyra. In the meantime, Myradin, Nole, and Luigi would round to the other-side of the village, and attempt to get the spiders attention.

Blazing Coconuts

Having not heard Jess' plea that fire not be used, Myradin immediately set into action a plan of disastrous effect. He would gather coconuts, and using minor magics, would set them alight. Passing them out to Nole and Luigi, the three threw the blazing coconuts into the wooden, webbed town of Haven-Fara. Instantly, the webbing and much of the thatch housings caught fire. This would be successful in clearing the town of giant spiders as they fled into the jungle. But it also cleared the town of civilians and pirates, as everyone fled from the unknown fires and whomever started them...

Stopping a Forest Fire

Once the town was cleared of people and spiders, the survivors began gathering large amounts of wet sand to put out sections of fire, as well as letting some sections of town burn and magically putting out others. By the end only a small handful of buildings had burned, and only pirates had been found dead as a result.

The Good Fortune

Heading to the large boat in the center of town that read 'The Good Fortune' the five survivors began searching for any reason of what might have happened in recent days to attract so many large spiders. Immediately in the center of the bar-room the survivors found a large terrarium, filled with baby giant spiders. Next to the tank was a large key that lay on the ground. Picking up the key, it was found to open the captains quarters.
Investigating the captains quarters revealed many books on caring and raising spiders, as well as harvesting various parts from them and their eggs. In here was also two chests and a large table, a hammock, and the bookshelf filled with spider-related reading. It was here that a secret door was found, blocked up by the bookcase by Myradin, who, upon moving it found a tunnel filled with baby spiders, and covered with thick webbing. Deciding to leave Kick behind to help any survivors of the fire and the scare it caused, the four other survivors of Luigi, Myradin, Nole, and Zenyra descended into the spider tunnels.

The Spider Caves

Upon reaching a broken section of stairs the adventures tied rope to a secure post and descended to the floor of the large cave system. Here the group found a doorway covered by spiderwebs in the wall. Removing the webbing, the group found themselves in a large ruin built by an unknown race. With many of the decorations and writings long gone, the only thing of attention was a statue that sit in the center of the room. It was a statue of a chimera of standard creation, one dragon head, one goat head, and a central lion head and body. Either side of the room stat dead and disemboweled bodies that Myradin began to look over while Nole noticed that the statue of the Chimera had large glowing red eyes, where giant fire beetles sat. Eating something...
Alerting Myradin after poking a fire beetle, the group noticed that the statue was alive, and that they eyes being covered by the beetles where moving around, and the beetles where indeed gorging on the paralyzed beast...
Exploring the ruin more, the group found a hole leading down and covered with layers of webbing. Towards the back of the ruins the group discovered a dirt room littered with bodies, containing two chests at the center. Moving bodies over as they pressed towards the chest, Myradin would be ambushed by a giant centipede! Nearly dying to the beasts poison, the group slew the giant monster and took the chests as reward.
Barricading themselves in one of the rooms in the ruin, the group set up a small fire, and taking saved rations slept soundly. Waking up the next morning Myradin would prepare the spell Commune With Dragons, witch would allow him to speak with the dragon head of the paralyzed Chimera on the other-side of one of the barricades.
Telepathically communicating with the Chimera, Myradin learned that it was paralyzed long ago by gorgons, who left when the spiders moved in to create a new city on a different island, and when the gorgon died and chimera let loose, it would begin the slow process of eating all the spiders and the pirates on the island. Concluding that these eaten people would include everyone, not just pirates, Myradin and the group left the chimera, thankful it was currenlty frozen in place.
Heading to the large hole previously discovered, the group would burn away the webbing, and mounting a rope, would descend the 15 feet to the floor of more ruins.

The Spider Queen of Haven-Fara

Here, in the deepest part of the ruins, the four survivors heard vicious fighting. Moving up to see more, the survivors saw many half-spider half-humanoids fighting the giant spiders that had taken over the town. In a hope to gain allies, the group opened fire on the giant spiders, only to be attacked by the half-spider people! With quick castings of complimentary magics (water and lightning) by Nole and Myradin, the spiders and the half-spider people stood little chance already weaken from infighting.
This would not be an easy fight however, as Luigi would be hit by the fangs of the Spider Queen, and would enter a comatose state for the next 6 weeks.

The Old Man

Returning back to Kick, the group would discover that behind the broken stairs was a wall of loose dirt. Believing this to be a recent addition, Myradin and the three others began digging away at the wall. Quickly they revealed a large iron door. Knocking on it, an old voice of a man answered. Calling to ask if it was safe, Myradin put on a pirate accent and commanded the door be open and that the fire and spiders had been dealt with.
Upon the door being opened, Myradin struck the man with his quarterstaff knocking the man out cold. Tying him up and waking up their prisoner the group found that this man was a slave of the pirates. Quickly, the group released him. In doing so, the old man pleaded for help in taking down the great big danger that dwelled beneath the town and the ruins. Believing to already have done most of the work, the survivors agreed.
The old man took the group deep into the ruins, and revealed himself to be a fellow adventurer and wizard from Carcino, the last survivor of an expedition from 15 years back, and during his captivity he had learned much about the island. Leading the survivors down tubes of webbing, the group eventually found themselves at the bottom of a large ravine. Attached to the caverns wall by large webs was a giant and ancient hydra of untold age. It was easy to see that the spider had been continually eating the creature for food, but how it had not died yet was a mystery to the group. Deciding to put the weakened, poisoned, and dying hydra out of its misery the group began to attack the giant creature, careful not to send it falling to the giant watery lake below.
This would eventually wake the beast, who during his death throws would attempt to defend its life, but it was no match for the survivors and the old man. Upon defeating the great beast, Myradin would cast Detect Magic, revealing a large ring on the hydra's front right claw, hidden by webbing. After retreating this ring, it was identified as a ring of sustenance, explaining how the hydra was able to remain alive after months or years of being eaten alive by the spiders.

Homeward Bound

After slaying the Hydra, the survivors met back up with Kick, and taking the old man, Jess and his family, and any others who wished to leave, the group took over the one pirate skiff remaining on the island after all the pirates fled the fires. Filling it to the brim with gold and treasure from the island, Nole and Myradin returned to Carcino to get high praises from their guilds. Kick would remain as a dock worked, making an honest living for himself on the seas. And Zenyra would go school, and write down many of his native island songs for the first time.
With the Island of Haven-Fara found Myradin was sent of on many other adventures while Kick and Zenyra would retire. Nole would entire a state of retirement, using his acquired wealth from the pirate treasure to sponsor other adventure parties and expeditions.

Rewards Granted

Bejeweled Poison Dagger
Clockwork Model of a Giant Spider
Map of Haven-Fara and the surrounding islands
Ring of Sustenance

Missions/Quests Completed

Find the legendary pirate island and town of Haven-Fara.
Discover where Captain Rigatoni was taken too.
Find the ruin(s) rumored to be on the island of Haven-Fara.
Recover any magical artificats and bring them back to Carcino.

Character(s) interacted with

• Islander Blacksmith

• Islander General Merchant

• Islander Barkeep

• Captain Rigatoni

• Second Mate Luigi

• Jess

• Human Prisoner

• Paralyzed Chimera of Haven-Fara

• The Spider Queen of Haven-Fara

• "Old Man" Prisoner

• Hydra of Haven-Fara

Notes

Player Characters

Contents

Session Reports

Report Date

20 Mar 2022

Primary Location

Island of Haven-Fara

Secondary Location

Haven-Fara

Related Characters

• Kick
• Myradin
• Nole Oatshield
• Zenyra Smooth-Hands

Related Historical Events

• 4123
  Events of Siege of the Spider Eaters